MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Explains Why Trump Colluding with the Russians Looks Even More Likely Now

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow honed in on a few key details in a bombshell report from BuzzFeed on Thursday that suggest that the idea of extensive, intentional collusion between President Donald Trump's campaign and Russia is not the far-fetched conspiracy theory that some commentators assume. In fact, it may look downright plausible.

The report, headlined "The Definitive Story Of How Trump’s Team Worked The Trump Moscow Deal During The Campaign," details Trump's direct involvement in trying to set up a deal to develop a Trump Tower in the Russian capital.

And, in a part Maddow called an "explosive bit of reporting." it reveals the following:

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Even before the appointment of Mueller as special counsel in May 2017, FBI agents investigating Russia’s interference in the election learned that Cohen was in frequent contact with foreign individuals about Trump Moscow — and that some of these individuals had knowledge of or played a role in 2016 election meddling, according to two FBI agents.

"That is new," Maddow said Thursday night. "That is new information that adds a whole new dimension to the Trump Tower Moscow story that had been kept secret for a very long time, and then diminished, and we were all told it was nothing. And now it turns out that it was more than nothing, the FBI was interested in it. and it involved people who were part of the 2016 election meddling by the Russian government."

The direct ties between a key member of the Trump's orbit and the efforts to disrupt American democracy would seem to suggest a plausible path for some sort of "collusion" to have occurred and also completely contradicts any number of denials from the president and his allies of any connections to Russia.

Watch the clip below:

Not only are we learning that there was much more to Donald Trump's business in Russia but also that the FBI was interested in it and it involved people connected to 2016 election meddling by the Russian government. pic.twitter.com/JWbQzewSak